1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program, capable of dynamically determining, in a wizard for setting properties of a printer driver, a screen to be displayed next on the basis of information indicating functions supported by an image forming apparatus and a value specified by a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
When document data or image data is printed using a printer connected to a computer, a user opens a printer driver setting window and sets print properties by inputting setting values associated with a plurality of properties so that the document or the image is printed in a desired form.
In recent years, great advances have been made in the performance of printers. However, the advances in performance of printers have resulted in an increase in the number of items to be specified in printing. This can cause many users to have a difficulty in using a printer connected to a computer. Besides, there is a possibility that a conflict can occur among setting values of different items. A conflict can cause a value of some item to become invalid. Thus, a user has to specify setting values of all items so that no conflict occurs among items.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-220300 discloses a technique to specify printing conditions by setting print properties of a printer driver using a wizard-type interface which sequentially provides setting screens to allow a user to easily specify setting values. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-220300, the printer driver displays a wizard screen including two windows displayed side by side. In one window, an order of setting properties is displayed in the form of a flow diagram, and the other window allows a user to input values of print properties.
However, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-220300, because the print information setting wizard is provided by the printer driver, it is necessary to separately prepare programs of print information setting wizards for respective printer drivers.
In the technique described above, the necessity of separately preparing wizard programs for respective printer drivers causes a reduction in the efficiency of developing programs.
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a technique to dynamically produce a screen, displayed in a wizard used by a printer driver, on the basis of device function information provided by the printer driver and a setting value specified by a user.
In the conventional technique described above, the wizard program is prepared separately for each printer driver, and it is not allowed to use the same wizard program for different printer drivers. Therefore, it is necessary to produce different wizard programs for respective printer drivers, which causes a reduction in development efficiency. In an office environment or the like, in which a large number of printers are connected to computers, it is reasonable to install a plurality of different printer drivers in each client computer. In this case, wizard programs corresponding to respective printer drivers are also installed in each client computer, and thus each client computer has to have additional memory space for installing these programs.
In view of the above, it is also desirable to provide a wizard function usable in common by a plurality of printer drivers.